Tension device for car-trucks.



G. H. KN OBBS. TENSION DEVICE EOE CAE TRUCKS. AQPPLIOATION FILED JULY18, 1910. 995,47@ v Patented June 20, 1911.

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CHARLES I-I. KNOBBS, 0F ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE KNOBBSCOM- PANY, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TENSION DEVICE FOR CAR-TRUCKS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 20, 1911.

Application filed July 18, 1910. .Serial No. 572,465.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that ICHARLES I-I. KNOBBS, a citizen oit' the United States,residing at Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tension Devices forCar-Trucks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to an improved device which can be attached to acar truck and is adapted to extend forwardly and rearwardly from thetruck to take up the strain, when the car is stopping or starting, sothat the tortional strain on the car bolster is to a great extentremoved.

The device is also adapted to be placed between the supports for theends of the elliptical spring, used in car trucks, to normally draw thesprings so that they resume their curved position when excessive weightis removed from them, and do not become fiattened as is now the case.

The device is provided with means for adjusting its tension so that thespring which it contains can be compressed after 1t has become weakenedso that it remains operative until its resiliency is about eX- hausted.

This device is adapted for any kind of truck, but I have illustrated itattached to a radial truck of the type illustrated and claimed in myPatent No. 956,900.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a top view of a truck with the device installed as astopping and starting device on one side of the truck. Fig. 2 is a sideview of a truck freely equipped with the stopping and starting deviceextending from both sides of the car bolster.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section yon line 3, 3, in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is asection of the adjusting means, and Fig. 5 is a section showing indetail the means yot' seating the elliptical spring on its supports.

The device can be used on a truck with a rigid, central bolster, but Ihave illustrated a radial truck which has the bolster comprised of twomembers l0 which rock on the pivotal pin 11 which also serves as the pinon which the whole truck swings `on the car body. The previousconstructions have embodied the car bolster which rests on the truckbolster as the only means of conveying forward and backward motion fromthe truck to the car body, or from the car body to the truck, dependingon whether the car starting or stopping. In railway cars, when startingor stopping, the tendency is for the car body to force the truck, and inmotor driven cars, such as electric cars, in starting, the truck tendsto pull on the bolster to twist it. It is to overcome this tendency, andto take t-he strain from the bolster, that I have devised the presentinvention.

Extending from each side of the pivotal pin 11 I place the arms 12 whichproject from the plate 13. Each of these arms is connected to the car bythe device to be hereinafter described, and since they are in duplicate,one of them will be described. Pivotally secured, as at 14, to one ofthe arms 12 so that it can swing vertically, thereby compensating forthe vertical Inove-Y ment of the car body, is a rod- 15 which has,secured to 'its end by means of a pivot 1G, a yoke 17. This pivotalconnection is for the purpose of allowing for the swing of the truck incase the plate 13 and the arms 12 become caught in any way and swingwith the truck. The yoke 17 is interlocked with the yoke 1S, these yokeshaving their respective ends 19 and 2O passing between parallel sidestrips of the other, this being shown more particularly in Fig. 3 wherethe side strips 31 of the yoke 18 and the side strips 22 of the yoke 17are illustrated in section. These side strips serve to inclose a spring23 which abuts on one end on the end plate 19 and on its other end, onthe end plate 2O so that the spring has a constant tendency to draw theyokes toward each other, in other words, to cause them to telescope orhave a. sliding action. The yoke 18 is provided on its end with a head24, which head is recessed as at 25 to receive a bar 26, which bar ispivoted as at 27 to a suitable securing element 28, by means of whichthe apparatus is attached to the car body. The head 24 is enlarged onopposite sides of the bar 26 to form a pair of chambers, in one ofwhich,

29, is arranged a pinion 30 which has a projecting head 31 so that itcan be turned by a suitable wrench or crank, and in this way operate therack 32 to tighten up on the spring 23 when it has become weakened, aswill be understood. The other side of the bar 26 is provided withratchet teeth 33, and a. pawl 34 is arranged to be placed in contactwith the teeth to hold the bar 26 in its adjusted position and take thestrain from the pinion 30. The pawl can be swung out of the way by meansof the projecting head 35 which can also be operated by a suitable tool.I also use this same device on a truck in a different situation which isshown more particularly in Fig. 2.

In my style of truck I support the elliptical spring 36, one of which isarranged on each side of the truck, by means of slots 37 which arearranged in'the ends 38 of the spring, these slotted ends tting over anose 39, shown more particularly in Fig. 5, the nose in each caseforming part of a bracket 40, one bracket being arranged at each end ofthe spring and suspended in, any way usual in the art, but I have shownthem suspended in the links 41 which in turn are suspended from thetruck. To one of the brackets 40 I attach the rod 15, and on the otherbracket I secure the bar 26, the securing means between the rod and itsbracket and the bar and its bracket being preferably a pivotal onepermitting horizontal swinging of the bar and the arm on theirrespective brackets. The bar 26 and the arm 15 are connected, in thissituation, just the same as they were when used as a starting andstopping device, the two yokes 17 and 18 being employed, the spring 23being used to force them together, and the adjusting mechanism beingconfined in the head 24, as will be understood. From an inspection ofFig. 2 it will be seen that this device, when used to connect the endsof the spring, has a constant tendency to pull the ends of the springtogether and thus assist the spring in maintaining its elliptical shapeor curved formation, and overcomes the tendency of the spring to becomeflattened after some use. It will also be understood that any movementof the car body relative to the truck, or any movement of the truckrelative to the car body, will be communicated at once to whichever ofthe devices is subjected to a tension and the spring in the deviceeil'ected will take up the strain, and the truck and the body will actmore in unison or sympathy than when the car bolster is the only mediumfor conveying the movement from one to the other. An easier riding caris the result and the maintenance of a car is cheaper, since the carbolsters will not require the constant and frequent attention andstraightening they now do when they are the only means of communicatingmotion from the truck to the body, or vice versa.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. A tension devicefor car trucks comprising a pair of yokes with their inner ends oppositeeach other, a spring inclosed by the yokes and abutting on said ends, arod on the end of one yoke, a head on the second yoke, a bar, and meansin the head for engaging the bar and acting to adjust the bar in thehead.

2. A tension device for car trucks comprising a pair of yokes with theirinner ends opposite each other, a spring inclosed by the yokes andabutting on said ends, a rod on the end of one yoke, a head on thesecond yoke, a bar, teeth on the bar forming a rack, a pinion in thehead and engaging the rack, means for turning the pinion, and a lockingdevice in the head for engaging the bar.

3. A tension device for car trucks comprising a pair of yokes with theirinner ends opposite each other, a spring inclosed by the yokes andabutting on said ends, a rod on the end of one yoke, a head on thesecond yoke, a bar, teeth on the bar forming a rack, a pinion in thehead and engaging the rack, means for turning the pinion, a pawl pivotedin the head, and means for swinging the pawl, the bar having ratchetteeth for engaging the pawl.

4. The combination with a car and a car truck, of arms projecting fromthe car truck toward the front and rear of the car body, bars pivotallysecured to the car body, each arm and each bar having a yoke attachedthereto, the yokes being interlocking, and a spring arranged between theends of each pair of interlocking yokes.

5. The combination with a car truck and a car body, of arms projectingtoward the `front and rear of the car body, said arms being arranged onthe car truck, rods, each rod being pivotally secured so as to swingvertically on one of its ends to the end of one of the arms,interlocking yokes arranged on the ends of the rods, a spring in eachinterlocking pair of yokes, each spring abutting on the ends of theinterlocking yokes, and a bar secured to each interlocking pair ofyokes, each bar being attached to the car` body at its outer end. i"

6. The combination with a car truck and a car body, of arms projectingtoward theV front and rear of the car body, said arms beino arranged onthe car truck, rods, each'" rod zbeing pivotally secured so as to swingvertically on one of its ends to the end of one of the arms,interlocking yokes arranged on the ends of the rods, a spring in eachinterlocking pair of yokes, each. spring abut ting on the ends of theinterlocking yokes, a4 head on each pair of interlocking yokes, barssecured to the car body, and adjusting and locking means in each headadapted to engage a bar for regulating the tension on the springs.

7. The combination with a car body and a car truck, the car body and cartruck being in pivotal relation, of a plate arranged at the pivotalconnection, the plate having oppositely projecting arms, a pair ofinterlocking yokes, a spring in each interlocking yoke, rods, each rodbeing secured to a yoke and arranged to swing vertically in the end ofone of the arms, and means for attaching the outer end of each pair ofyokes to the car body.

8. The combination with a car body and a car truck, the car body and cartruck being in pivotal relation, of a plate arranged at the pivotalconnection, the plate having oppositely projecting arms, a pair ofinterlocking yokes, a spring in each interlocking yoke, rods, each rodbeing secured to a yoke and arranged to swing vertically in the end ofone of the arms, a head on each pair of interlocking yokes, a barprojecting from each head, means for securing each bar to the car body,and means in the head for engaging the bar and acting to adjust thetension on the spring in the interlocking yokes.

9. The combination with a car and a car truck, of arms projecting fromthe car truck upwardly and toward the front and rear of 11. Thecombination with a car and a car truck in pivotal connection, of armsprojecting from the car truck and extending from the pivotal connectionupward and toward the front and rear of the car body, compressiblespring connections between the arms and the car body, and means forregulating the compression of the spring connection, the springconnection being adapted to take upv the strain of the stopping andstarting of the car.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my handthis thirteenth day of July, 1910.

CHARLES H. KNOBBS. Witnesses:

JAMES A. Down, E. A. PELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

